Latest looking ahead details for rev136 available here

Studies of Titan, Dione, Enceladus and Tethys, as well as as a stellar occultation of the rings - a very busy orbit.

Was hoping for another glimpse of Calypso (Cassini flies by at about the same distance as the last imaging flyby) but then you can't have it all.....

Very close imaging of Enceladus to look forward to, and a few very details Tethys mosaics - finger-lickin' good.

Nice image of the rings and moonlets:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...2/N00160228.jpg

Latest pictures of Enceladus plumes, Tethys and Dione:
http://www.ciclops.org/view_event/140/Ence...aw_Preview?js=1

The best ever taken pictures of the old basin Penelope on Tethys are especially impressive.
Marc.

Holy smokes! Wow!

Check out that sinuous groove transecting the crater.

There is one just to the left of the crater, too. Europa has cycloid features as well...

I saw that too, Dan. Odd that a feature so apparently ancient has something fresh-looking like that intruding.

Such kind of linear features have already been imaged on the other side of Tethys, west of Ithaca Chasma (July 2007):

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/rawi...?imageID=114764
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/rawi...?imageID=114772

There is even one crossing the chasma:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/rawi...?imageID=114774

So these might be common features on Tethys. This world might no be as dead as we think.
Marc.

A twisting or turning stress crack is indicative of displacement of the stress vector over time. On an orbiting body, to me that seems to suggest a force akin to tidal stresses.

Agree that it's almost certainly an artifact of tidal stress. The weird part is, why there why now after all these eons? That crust is old, unless the impact rate for Tethys is anomalously high; you'd think that tidal cracks would be frequent enough over time to degrade the cratering at local scales.

It'll be interesting to hear the experts weigh in. Only thing I can think of is that possibly the cracks are relatively permanent--and therefore ancient--features themselves. The crust of Tethys is presumably very thick, and perhaps the existing cracks provide all the tidal stress relief needed without spawning new ones.

A bit of a colorization:
Click to view attachment

...and it's more than a bit beautiful!

LRGB Hi-phase image of crescent Dione. LRGB image (L is CL1 CL2; R=80%IR3+GRN; G=100%GRN; B=80%UV3+GRN) using the formula posted by John VV), also HiPass filtered to bring out some details.

Click to view attachment

What is this dark stain on the far left?

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/rawi...?imageID=225044

I think that is one my Tethys "gunshot" wounds...

Yep, same one we saw on Rev36...

I guess the "skeet shoot" nailed it!

Gotta love "atmospheric" scattering

EDIT: Whoops, can't discount Saturn/rings as a light source..

And another amazing high resolution view of one plume and its source, directly from above:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/rawi...?imageID=225085
Rev136 is really a great orbit for the icy moons !!

Nice. Dione into shadow.
Click to view attachment (small version)

Full version here. 1.2mb

EDIT: A YouTube film version here.

For grins and giggles, here is an LRGB image of Enceladus using polarization data: LRGB (0, 60, 120 degree polarization filters with GRN) using the CL1 CL2 image for luminance.

Used the fresh white crater at center to balance to white.

Totally oversaturated the colors for effect. Not sure what this all means....a few of the larger cracks up top appear bluish, (more 120 degree polarization?). Some the broader ridges(?) appear cyanish (less 0 degree polarization?)...

Click to view attachment

Many of the fractures in the top of the image look like dendritic channels. No way they could have been streams, but that is their appearance. And some of the dark areas near the bottom look like rafts of older terrane. Strange region.

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...2/N00161077.jpg